Enterprise class Facebook comes to UK

A UK software company claims to have cracked the problem of letting companies use social networking services while protecting them from security breaches.

By
Christian Harris, Techworld.com
| 21 Feb 08

A UK software company claims to have cracked the problem of letting companies use social networking services while protecting them from security breaches.

WorkBook, developed by WorkLight and previously only available in the US, is an overlay for the Facebook service with added controls for businesses. This includes integration with existing enterprise security services and information sources, allowing companies to use Facebook while providing their employees with a safe and secure solution for increased collaboration and communication.

With WorkBook, employees can find and stay in touch with corporate colleagues, publish company-related news, create bookmarks to enterprise application data and securely share the bookmarks with authorized colleagues, update on status change and get general company news. Employees can use Facebook, with the WorkBook overlay, with no danger of information leaking outside the organization or access being granted to unauthorized personnel, said WorkLight.

Facebook is making its way to the enterprise, where employee-driven, unsanctioned use of Web 2.0 technologies is a concern for some. With the proliferation of social networking applications in the workplace, enterprises are faced with a choice: either ban popular utilities or embrace the networking functionality offered by these tools.

According to Forrester Consulting, 58.4 per cent of the 308 large companies interviewed impose a policy prohibiting the usage of social networks at work. There is a general concern about employees getting distracted at work and not meeting their deadlines. After all, many bosses don't want to pay for their staff to "play" on the internet. This sentiment shows that there is still a lag in the understanding of the full benefits of social networks. They are seen as a fun way to pass time as opposed to a marketing strategy.

Facebook has become the pre-eminent consumer social networking application with a total user base of over 64 million users. From September 2006 to September 2007 the site's traffic ranking increased from 60th to 7th, according to Alexa. It's the most popular website for uploading photos, with 14 million uploaded daily. The UK is host to the highest number of active Facebook users outside the US, totalling about 13 per cent of the population, according to WorkLight.

WorkLight said that the application would allow employees to use Facebook to find colleagues by name, location, department, project and area of expertise, while allowing them to collaborate securely with peers using familiar Facebook capabilities. According to the company, WorkBook would also allow users see general and personalized company news direct from a Facebook news feed, and lets users create groups around shared interest areas and work-related projects.

"The UK is host to over eight million Facebook users, and user adoption is growing at a rapid pace," said Shahar Kaminitz, CEO and founder of WorkLight. "As we have seen with the introduction of WorkBook in the US, there is a significant advantage to using this consumer tool at work, as long as it is safeguarded. Companies are particularly interested in leveraging employee expertise and mindshare to increase productivity with consumer tools, without hampering employee-driven initiatives. Facebook is a perfect example of how we are seeing this trend is impacting the corporate world."

WorkBook is part of the WorkLight platform, which supports various consumer Web 2.0 technologies such as iGoogle, Netvibes, RSS, desktop gadgets and widgets, among others. The WorkLight server is licensed to enterprises by yearly subscription. Pricing starts at €10 per user per month, with volume discount pricing available.